President: Homophobia 'an appalling blight on society'

President Michael D Higgins has today condemned what he describes as "the appalling, destructive reality of homophobia".

The President made his remarks today at a conference in Dublin run by the country's biggest youth organisation Foróige.

"The idea that any young person could be driven, not just to lower self-esteem, exclusion, isolation, loneliness, but self-destruction itself, is an appalling blight on a society," said President Higgins.